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Indeed, on January 20,
2005, right in the midst of the hell on earth Bush created in Iraq -- when the
carnage there was near its worst and American soldiers and Iraqi citizens were
dying violent deaths every day -- Bush, referring to himself and his wife, told
thousands of partying supporters at one of his nine inaugural balls: "We're having the time of our life." Can you
even begin to imagine Roosevelt in the midst of the Second World War, Truman
during the Korean War, or LBJ and Nixon during the Vietnam War, saying something
like this?
3. Does it not stand to reason that if Bush were suffering
over the daily killings and tragedy in Iraq, he would be working every waking
hour to lessen the mounting number of casualties as well as find a way to
satisfactorily end the terrible conflict? I mean, as president, that's what
you'd expect of him, right? Isn't that his job? Yet we know that although Bush
is still in office, he has already spent far more time on vacation than any
other president in American history. For instance, by April 11, 2004 (he was
inaugurated January 20, 2001), he had visited his cherished ranch in Crawford a
mind-boggling thirty-three times and spent
almost eight months of his presidency there.
Although the office
of the presidency follows the president wherever he goes twenty-four hours a
day, and at least some part of every day on vacation, no matter how small, was
spent by Bush attending to his duties as president, we also know that Bush's
main purpose when he goes on vacation, obviously and by definition, is to
vacation, not work. CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, who travels
with Bush and keeps track of such things, told me that as of January 1, 2008, in
Bush's less than seven years as president, he visited his ranch in Texas an
unbelievable 69 times, spending, per Knoller, "all or part of 448 days on
vacation there." As amazing as this is, Bush also made, Knoller says, 132 visits
to Camp David during this period, spending "all or part of 421 days there," and
10 visits to his family's vacation compound at Kennebunkport, Maine, spending
"all or part of 39 days there."
So the bottom line is that of a total of
approximately 2,535 days as president, most of them during a time of war, Bush
spent all or a part or 908 days, an incredible 36 percent of his time, on
vacation or at retreat places. Hard to believe, but true. Nine hundred and eight days is two and a half years
of Bush's presidency. Two and a half years of the less than seven years
of his presidency in which his main goal was to kick back and have fun. You see,
the White House digs, with a pool, theater, gymnasium, etc., weren't enjoyable
enough for Bush. He wanted a more enjoyable place to be during his life as
president. *
My position in life is infinitely less important than
Bush's, yet during the above same period of Bush's presidency, I not only worked
much longer hours every day than Bush, I worked seven days a week, never took
one vacation, and only took three days off to go to the desert with my wife to
celebrate our fiftieth wedding anniversary. If it had not been for the
anniversary, I wouldn't have even taken those three days off. I realize I take
working to an extreme, living by the clock each day, always looking up to see
how much time I have left, working from morning to morning (retiring usually
around two in the morning and starting my day at ten in the morning). Still, it
is striking to consider that in seven years, I took 3 days off and Bush, the
president of the United States, took 908. Even Americans who lead a more normal
life than I, even fat-cat corporate executives, haven't taken anywhere near the
time away from their work that Bush has. Indeed, I think we can safely say that
even though Bush has the most important and demanding job in this entire land,
he has irresponsibly taken far more time off
from his job to have fun during the past seven years than any worker or company
executive in America!!! Is Bush, or is he not, a disgrace of the very
first order?
*Remarkably, during his campaign for reelection in
2004 Bush very frequently spoke of the "hard work" he and his administration
were engaging in. This was the first time I had ever heard an American president
speak of the "hard work" involved in his job. I have heard them speak of the
immense "burden" of the office of the presidency being responsible for the
destiny and welfare of millions of people. But you see, for someone like Bush
who was born on home plate and thought he had hit a home run, anything he does, any effort at all, he considers "hard work."
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